Once all the children were settled in at Number 14, Mr. and Mrs. Darling signed the boys up for public school.
The boys were in school only a few days before they started wishing they had never left the island of Neverland.
But as time passed, they got used to their teachers and to learning everyday things like math and spelling.
They settled down and became ordinary boys.
No one outside the family ever knew about their magical past.
Sometimes they went back to their old tricks.
When no one was looking, they would fly after their hats on a windy day.
Other times, they would pretend to fall off the school bus, only to fly safely away.
At first, Nana tied their feet to the bedposts, so that they could not fly away at night.
But soon they forgot how to fly at all.
Maybe it was because they were out of practice.
Or maybe it was just that they no longer believed they could.
Being the youngest, Michael continued to believe longer than the other boys.
He remembered Neverland for a long time.
He was with Wendy when Peter came for her in the spring.
Though Peter did not notice, both Michael and his sister had grown much taller.
For Wendy, it had been a long wait, and she was excited to talk about the old times.
But Peter was carefree as always.
He only wanted to talk about his new adventures.
"Who is Captain Hook?" he asked with interest when Wendy mentioned Peter's old enemy.
"You don't remember how you killed him and saved all our lives?" she asked, amazed.
"I forget them as soon as I've killed them," Peter replied.
When Wendy asked about Tinker Bell, he didn't know who the fairy was.
"Oh, Peter, how could you not remember?" she said in shock.
"There are such a lot of fairies," he said, "and they don't live too long."
But Wendy still loved Peter. To her, Peter was as fascinating as ever.
And when they finally got to Neverland, they had a lovely spring cleaning in the little house in the treetops.
The next year, Wendy waited at the window for days, but Peter did not come for her.
"Maybe he's sick," said Michael.
"You know he's never sick," she replied.
Michael came closer and whispered sadly, "Wendy, maybe there is no such person as Peter Pan."
Michael burst into tears when he said it. Wendy wanted to cry too.
The following spring, Peter came for her.
Strangely, he didn't remember that he had missed a year.
When he brought her back home, he said, "Always be waiting here for me.
Some night you will hear my crow.
And I'll be there to bring you back to Neverland!"
That was the last time the little girl named Wendy ever saw him.
She tried not to grow up.
She tried to be loyal to Peter, but as the years went by, Wendy did grow up, and Peter became a vague memory.
All the boys grew up too. Nibs and Curly became teachers.
Michael became an engineer.
Slightly married a lady who was a medical doctor and he never had to work again.
Tootles became a lawyer and then a judge.
The twins owned a shipyard.
Like his father, John worked at a bank and couldn't remember any stories to tell his children.
And Wendy got married in a long white dress and became a real mother.